Easy Peasy Simple Lampwork Bead BoneTutorial for Glass Bead Makers

It's getting to be that time of year! The leaves are falling. Daylight is much shorter than it was a month ago. Autumn is here, and with the onset of autumn comes the harvest and the spooky time of the year. Last year, I posted this Easy Peasy Skull Tutorial. This year, I thought I'd show you how I make bones. Like with most beads, there are as many ways to make bones as there are beaders. Well, maybe not that many, but there are a lot of ways to make bones. This is how I make a very simple bone.

The bone is the photo is sort of a short, fat bone, but you can make your bones any length and have any girth that you would like. You can also decorate your bones any way you like. I am keeping this bone simple because of time and space. See the end of the tutorial for the tools you will need.














Step 1: Make a simple tube bead. I used orange sherbet so that the details of this bone would show up better. Use any color you like.










Step 2: Bulk up each end of the bead by adding a spacer either at the end of the tube, (just make sure the spacer fuses with the tube,) or on the ends of the tube. In the photo the right side had the spacer put on top of the glass and on the left side the spacer was put next to the glass.

















Step 3: Add 3-4 dots on the glass at end of each tube. These will be the bulky part of the bone, and they will be your guides for the next step. You can space them evenly or not. That's up to you.


















Step 4: Melt a small amount of glass at the end of your glass rod. Using the dots as a guide, from the middle, swipe the glass to the top of the dot.
Repeat this step on each side of the bone with each dot. Remember to go from the middle to the top of your bone.














This is what your bone looks like when you have completed Step 4.



















Step 5: Now, let gravity work for you. Tilt your mandrel to about a 45 degree angle and let the glass flow a little bit on each tip.



















Step 6: Tilt the bone to the other side and let the glass flow just a little to define the shape of the bone.



Remember, Step 5 and Step 6 shouldn't take too long. Don't let the bone become a gushy mess! All you want to do is to melt the glass that is on top of the dots and let it flow to the ends.











Step 7: Admire your creation for about 10 seconds then stick that baby in the kiln. Let it soak according to your schedule.

















Tools:

a coated mandrel
glass rod in your color choice
a marver
a torch ( I have a mini cc which I run with 2 oxycons.)
kiln
patience
passion
love of glass and beads

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful. Have fun!
You can find me on Facebook. I hope you post photos of your creations on my "like" page.
If you like my page, you can also add your name to list for the chance to win a teapot pendant. Just look for the teapot pendant and sign up.

How To Eat Your Breakfast/Supper Like Pixie Does-A Mini Tutorial

There are 4 easy steps in this tutorial.




Step 1:
Take your food out of your dish and take it to one of your favorite beds in the house. (Yes, I did say ONE of your...)









Step 2: Lay down and eat your food leaving a trail of crumbs from the time you step into the living room until you reach one of your favorite beds.









Step 3: When you are caught by the pack leader (that's supposed to be me), maintain your innocence by hiding behind your expensive toy that also has food in it that you ignore, and lay down with an innocent look on your face.









Step 4: When your toy is moved out of the way, continue to hold the innocent look on your face and sigh. How could anyone be annoyed with that face? I have to admit it's hard to be annoyed, but someone has to vacuum!

Quick and Easy Earring Tutorial

This tutorial is so easy, I'm almost embarrassed to post it, but, I do need a blog for today, so here goes nothing. I hope you enjoy this post!








Here's the finished project, and I plan to wear these today.
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Step 1: Here's what you need.

Two hoops -- I made my own, but you don't need to do that. Any hoops will work.

Two jump rings that will fit around the hoops-- I made my own so that they would fit.

Two ear wires--I made these, too, because I wanted this shape and size. I also used sterling silver. What you use is up to you on this. I can wear any type of wire in my ears. Not everyone can!

Tools: chain nose pliers, round nose pliers








Step 2: Open up your jump ring using your fingers or your chain nose pliers.












Step 3: Place the jump ring around the hoop and close the jump ring using either your fingers or your chain nose pliers.

(In case you are wondering what that glitter is on the inside of this hoop, it's nail polish that I put there for fun.)













Step 4: Repeat with the other hoop and jump ring.



Step 5: Open the little loop on the ear wire with your round nose pliers. Put the jump ring in there. Close the loop. Repeat with the other loop.

Ta-da! You have a new pair of earrings.

See, I told you this was easy! Enjoy!

Look What You Can Do With Your Orphans or Not So Perfect Beads

How do you go from this
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to this?
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Easy Peasy!
All you need to do is take a wire business card holder. (You can buy these almost anywhere, or something that is very similar.)

Add your extra beads, you know, your orphans or not so perfect beads.

Glue these beads on with E-6000. I only advise that you use this glue. You can find it at craft stores, hardware stores, or at discount stores. Hold the beads on the business card holder until they are sticky. It doesn't take long at all. Put the business card holder away and don't touch it for 3 days. Then take your new business card holder out of isolation and use it proudly.
Easy Peasy!

Easy Peasy Wire Earring Tutorial

If you like easy, if you like simple, this tutorial is for you. I, personally, love copper wire. When it comes to earrings, I can almost wear a rusted nail in my ears. However, I do know people who, if they even whisper the word copper, will turn green. I don't know which category you fall into, but these earrings can be made in copper or silver or brass. I am using copper for this tutorial. It's easier to photograph and I enjoy wearing it! If you do not like copper or you turn green, feel free to use silver.

What you will need:

8 inches of 20 gauge copper or sterling silver wire cut in half

burr cup if you have one or a bit of fine sandpaper to sand the edges of the wire























Round nose pliers, long nose pliers and wire cutters























Begin by making a hook at the end of the wire. I like to work with both pieces of wire at the same time. It helps to keep the coiling even, or so I would hope!





















Continue coiling, but leave ample space between the coils.





















Continue coiling until you have a big coil. You are finished! You won't even need backs for these earrings. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Skull Tutorial for Glass Bead Makers

Looks like someone needs to clean her work area! Oh, well, for now, this will have to do. Remember, too, that my first photo is very blurry, but after that, they are nice and clear.

As I write this quick little tutorial on how to make a lampwork bead skull, it's pretty warm outside, and it's summer. I can't help but think of fall, pumpkins, and Halloween.

Skulls are fun beads to make, and they can be very easy.

Materials:
1 rod of dark ivory (You can actually use any color you like, but I chose this color because it looks more like a skull to me.)
a brass marver
tungsten pick or uncoated mandrel
some type of masher
mandrel coated with bead release



















1) I begin by making a tube bead the length I want my skull to be.


















2) I continue to add glass to the bead so that one end has more glass than the other end of the mandrel. Notice, too, that there is a bit less glass in the middle of the bead.

















3) Using my brass marver, I make indents about 1/3 of the way to the top. I also flatten the bead at this point. You can see, now, that the shape of the skull is beginning to form.


















4) Remembering to keep my bead warm by flashing it in the flame, I take the bead out of the flame quickly, and using my tungsten pick or my uncoated mandrel, I make indentations in the bead for the eyes and nose. After doing that, I warm the bead up again in the flame. I don't want the bead to go back to the molten state, so I flash the bead in the flame.

















5) Again, using my tungsten pick or uncoated mandrel, I make a mouth on my skull. Again, I flash the bead in the flame before I put this easy peasy skull in the kiln to cool down properly.

See what I mean? Easy Peasy!

Variations using the same tools. You might need to use your tweezers, though with these variations.

1) change the color of your skull
2) Add shards
3) Add a stringer or twistie
4) I like to use murinni for the eyes
5) Add a cap
6) Add a tongue sticking out
7) Change the size
8) Make an eye patch
9) Make a mask
10) Add teeth
11) Encase






Feel free to use this tutorial to make your own skulls and sell them. Pass it on to your friends. My only request is to have fun making them! We all need a little fun now and again!

Let's make broken pieces of glass--aka--shards, a mini tutorial.

I have become a shards junkie. I love to use shards on beads! If you have read some of past blogs, you've seen some of my beads that have shards. I truly love using them when working with glass. If you are a non-glass person, you might ask, "What are shards?" Simply put, shards are thin, broken pieces of glass. Shards are used to apply decoration and/or texture to molten glass beads. All right, next question, how do you make shards? The answer is: very easily with only one tool.

The tool you need is a hollow mandrel. You can see that mine is well used.



















The next step is to melt glass on the uncoated mandrel. The color choice(s) are yours. You can make shards in as many different colors as you like. You can add left over stringers, twisties, enamels, silver foil, silver foil, frit or all of the above.


















This is a picture of a molten blob of glass at the end of the mandrel before I blow the glass.



















Here I am beginning to blow into the other end of the hollow mandrel. The glass is beginning to expand.


















Look how big that little blog became. In actuality, it's a little bit too big, but for the sake of this tutorial, it's just fine. Yeah, right.

















I let the shard ball cool in a small aluminum pan that I use only for glass. In this photo, the mandrel is still attached. As it cools, the mandrel just breaks off at the edge. If, for some reason, the mandrel doesn't come off, I simply tap the mandrel, and the glass shard breaks off.

















This is the final product--the shards. At this point, I break them. I usually just use my hands. On thicker shards, I guard my hands carefully and use a small hammer. After that, I use the shards in my beads.

For those who prefer not to make their own shards, there are many wonderful suppliers of shards. Google to find the suppliers or enjoy making your own.

I do it my way! Free tutorial!

Making frit that is!

For the non glass people reading this blog, frit is crushed glass that is rolled into a molten glass bead for the purposes of decoration, texture, or background. Most of the time I buy or trade for my frit, but some of my favorite blends have come from my lovely little nubs of glass.

Here's how I make my frit.


Always wear a mask. It's not good to inhale fine particles of glass.
That's my handy dandy frit maker. I purchased all the parts at Mutch Hardware.

Here are the pieces of it.


These are my glass nubs that I use. They really are nubs!
This is my frit sifter. I can sift the frit into different sizes. A friend sent this to me about 2 years ago, and I love it!
The nubs I've chosen for frit.
Now they are in my frit maker.
I begin to pound the glass.

Here's what comes out of the frit maker. I put it into the frit sorter and shake.
After shaking the frit sorter, here are my two favorite sizes of frit. I have some more pounding to do to finish the batch, but in the end, I will have enough frit for quite a few beads, and best of all, I was able to use my nubs--Again!

BookthongTutorial

What do you do with your leftover lampwork beads? I donate a lot of my extra beads to Beads of Courage. No matter what, though, I still seem to have a lot of left over beads that I don't know how to use. These beads, although not always perfect, are beads that I might not use in jewelry, but these beads are beads that could be used in other types of projects.

This is a tutorial that teaches you how to make an easy bookthong (aka bookmark), but bookthong sounds a little bit naughty. You don't need much to make this bookthong.

Supplies:
two lampwork beads
18" of a cord that will fit through the holes on the beads
a pair of scissors
a ruler
fray check
About 10 minutes















1) Tie a knot at one end of the cord. Slide a lampwork bead up to that knot. Tie another knot on the other side of the lampwork bead.
















Make sure you've treated the raw end of the cord by using Fray Check or, as I did because I have nylon cord, I burned the end to prevent fraying.
















I just do a quick check to see if I need to cut my cord down or not. Usually, I use about 12" in the book itself.
















I measure and cut about 15" from the bead to the end of the cord. I use the extra so that I have enough room to tie the knots.
















Tie another knot about 2-3 inches in from the other end of the cord and tie another knot on the
other side of the lampwork bead.


















Cut the end of the cord and treat with Fray Check.

















Your book thong is finished!

Talk about easy, and you are using those beads you might not otherwise use.